If you do not live in the UK or the USA, here is the information from Harper Collins on ordering the book:

For international orders please contact info@store.tolkien.co.uk with details of the product(s) you wish to purchase, your delivery address and a contact phone number or email. A customer service representative will contact you to notify you of availability and international delivery charges. Any Order placed with a customer services representative will be subject to the terms and conditions contained on this website (the 'Terms and Conditions'). By emailing info@store.tolkien.co.uk you will be deemed to have accepted that the Terms and Conditions will apply to any Order.

We regret to say that we are unable to sell the book to customers in the USA as we do not have the publishing rights for that territory.

I think it was your response (and ones like it) through the Tolkien.co.uk forums that got the international support added... the following message from the forum administrator over there was posted last night:

Since we opened the Tolkien shop yesterday morning, the phenomenal demand for the book outside the UK that has come in over the last 24 hours has shown us that we hadn't planned properly for this exciting new offer. We knew that the support for J.R.R. Tolkien amongst his fans was huge: but it's bigger even than we had gauged, and we now want to give as many of you as we can the chance to buy the book. So, from this point on, the great news is that the book is now on sale across the globe, and details on how to buy it are below.

I did manage to get my two copies ordered (have to have them delivered in the UK and then reshipped to me to get around the publisher's limitations) but it is doable for those US people with good friends in the UK.

I can probably swing two more copies of the signed CoH if there are other collectors in the USA who can't arrange to get their own copies. With the double shipping, it will run about $800 for a copy. If anyone is interested, drop me a line in the next few days.

Does anyone know anything about the technical/legal aspects of this [problem]? Surely this whole absurd situation has been brought about by HarperCollins selling this book direct?

Right now anyone from the US can go on Amazon.com and buy a HarperCollins CoH -right? (perhaps this is wrong; ignore the rest of this argument if this is not the case!) So why did HC insist on this direct publisher-to-customer format for distribution? Okay, they didn't have to sell through Amazon, but could they not have arranged to have all the copies sold through a wholesalers other than themselves, thus allowing US customers to buy direct from the point of sale?; and removing the need for the current situation (UK buyers buying several copies with the express intent of selling them on to US collectors; US buyers getting their books send to UK residents who they know/trust etc etc)?

When the HoME Deluxe editions came out, the text was surely (as with CoH) copyrighted (with distribution rights etc) seperately in the US? Yet these were '1000 copies Worldwide', and were undoubtedly sold direct to US customers by Amazon!? Does anyone in the US remember where they bought their copies new from?

Pieter stated on TolkienLibrary.com in one of his many fine updates (thank you Pieter for your coverage and updates without which I'd probably not have got a copy) the following:

Harper Collins thought it would disappoint the thousands of people who have bought The Children of Hurin to provide new pictures only in the 500 signed copies. This edition was made especially for the Tolkien fans and collectors and can only be obtained by registrating at the site mentioned above. This was done so that the books go to people who will genuinely appreciate it.

Does anyone really believe that fans (and not collectors) would be willing to pay £350+ for a book? Of course at this price, it's unlikely the books will end up with anyone other than those who will 'genuinely appreciate' them. But HC seem to have just created a situation where these books will undoubtedly end up being sold new on Ebay and Abebooks etc, simply because there is a demand for them from US customers (who cannot buy direct from HC). And these Tolkien 'fans' will just have to hope they can secure a copy for a reasonable price from a trustworthy dealer (i.e. like Wellinghall). Even then (as he has admitted) with Paypal and Ebay fees, the price cannot be that of HC. A problem HarperCollins have created by this selling policy; and one the 'fans' and 'collectors' are having to sort out!

Having said all this, I'm resident in the UK and this has had little affect on me. And, I'm genuinely excited about receiving my first 'super' deluxe edition.

[Pieter!] Could they not have arranged for you to deal with all the US customers?

Posted on: 2007/11/25 3:09

_________________You drive a hard bargain – you can have it for £10 all-in – one consolation (for you) is that you do not have to hear the cries of my children, for bread...